Electric-circuit controller



(No Model.)

W. T. BUDDS. ELECTRIC CIRCUIT CONTROLLER.

No. 598,358. Patented Feb. 1, 1898. I

"""Hlllllhu WITNESSES. lN VENTOl? A TTORNE VS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM T. BUDDS, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT CONTROLLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 598,358, dated February 1, 1898.

Application filed August 30, 1897.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. Errors, of Charleston, in the county of Charleston and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and Improved Electric-Circuit Controller, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates particularly to circuit-controllers for call-box systems, and the object is to provide a simple controller by the use of which a break in the main wires may be easily located without the trouble and expense of sending a lineman to find it in the usual manner, and, further, to so arrange the parts that should a wire be broken the call will still be operative.

I willdescribe my invention, and then point out the novel features in the appended claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a circuitcontroller embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view, but showing a modification. Fig. 3 is a side view of the controller drawn on an enlarged scale, and Fig. 4 is an edge view thereof.

In this case the system of arranging the call boxes and circuits is somewhat similar to that shown and described in my application filed July 14, 1897, Serial No. 644,565.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the controller-wheel, having a number of peripheral projections indicating the number of the call-box, in which it is arranged in the usual manner. The part of the wheel having the projections may be termed the body portion. At one side the wheel has a plain segmental portion 2, against which a brush 3 normally rests, and at the side of the segmental portion 2 the wheel is cut away, as at 4, and in this cut-away portion the end of a brush 5 normally rests.

The brush 5 has connection $erial No. 649,983. (No model.)

with a grounding-wire 6, and the brush 3 has connection with a main wire 7, the other main wire 8 being in connection with the wheel 1 through the call-box. In Fig. 2 I have shown the main wire 8 as connecting with a brush 9, bearing on the wheel. In this last example the wheel will be somewhat wider than the first example to accommodate the three brushes.

By making the wheel with the cut-way portion instead of attaching a block of insulating material, as in my application above referred to, it can be made by the single operation of a die, and therefore at much less expense as com pared to other controlling-wheels,

and as the wheel is of solid brass it is strong and less sensitive to a stroke of lightning. IVhen a box is pulled to send in a call, the grounding-brush will strike the projections and ground the current.

As there is both a metallic and ground circuit, it is obvious that should one of the wires of the metallic circuit be broken the call-box would still be operative through the ground circuit, and the break can be easily located by noting from which side of a box the call comes in.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent An electric-circuit controller comprising a wheel of conducting material having peripheral projections, on its body portion, and a plain segmental portion at one side of less length circumferentially than the body portion, and the wheel being cut away at one side of the segmental portion, the area of the cut-away portion being equal to that of the segmental portion.

IVILLIAM T. BUDDS.

Witnesses:

F. K. MY RS, A. B. BETANCOURT. 

